This list gives you Scripture readings to share at an anniversary celebration, whether you are planning a service, a family dinner, a renewal of vows, or a quiet toast between two people who have walked a long road together. Each passage speaks to the same themes: God’s faithfulness across seasons, the gift of love that grows, and the joy of gratitude for years already lived. Every reading is paired with a short reflection and a practical way to carry it into the day.
Verses on God’s Faithfulness Across the Years
Anniversaries look backward before they look ahead. These readings remind the couple, and everyone gathered, that the One who has kept them through the past is the same One who will keep them going forward.
Lamentations 3:22-23
22 It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. 23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
(WEB)
This passage was written by someone who had seen terrible loss, yet it turns toward morning mercy. For an anniversary, read it as a testimony: the ordinary mornings you have shared were themselves an evidence of God’s compassion. Name one specific mercy from your years together before the meal begins.
Psalm 136:1
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his loving kindness endures forever.
(WEB)
This psalm repeats one refrain again and again, as if memory itself were a form of worship. Invite each guest to finish a sentence beginning with “His love endures because…” and let the room answer together. It turns a celebration into a shared act of thanks.
Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations…
(WEB)
Moses reminds Israel that God keeps covenant faithfully to a thousand generations. A marriage is a covenant too, made before witnesses. Consider writing the date of your wedding on a card and tucking it into your Bible as a reminder that the promise has been held.
Verses on Love That Grows and Endures
A long marriage is built one ordinary choice at a time. These passages describe a love that is patient, kind, and willing to keep choosing the other person, even on hard days.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5 doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; 6 doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
(WEB)
Paul’s description of love is often heard at weddings, but it reads differently after decades. Look back over your years and identify one place where love was patient when it would have been easier to be irritable. Share that memory aloud if the couple is comfortable with it.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up.
(WEB)
The Preacher observes that two people working together accomplish more, and that the one who falls is helped up by the other. Anniversaries honor that partnership. Thank your spouse for one specific way they lifted you when you were down, and mean it.
Song of Solomon 8:7
Many waters can’t quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned.
(WEB)
This verse says that many waters cannot quench love. It is a poetic picture of a love that survives pressure, distance, and time. Choose this verse for a quiet moment of reading between the couple, away from the crowd, as a private echo of their vows.
Verses for Gratitude and Shared Joy
Celebrations are a natural time to give thanks. These readings turn the room toward gratitude and invite joy that does not depend on perfect circumstances.
Psalm 118:24
This is the day that the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!
(WEB)
This verse invites a deliberate choice to rejoice in the day the Lord has made. For an anniversary, it can open the celebration. Ask the couple to name one thing from the past year that made them glad, then let the guests add their own.
Ecclesiastes 9:9
Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.
(WEB)
The Preacher counsels enjoying life with the spouse one loves through the days given. It is permission to delight in marriage without guilt. Serve a favorite meal, or plan a small outing the next day, as an act of obedience to this encouragement.
Nehemiah 8:10
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared, for today is holy to our Lord. Don’t be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
(WEB)
After Israel heard the law read, Nehemiah told them to go and eat and celebrate, for the joy of the Lord is their strength. Sometimes a celebration is simply a feast with the people you love. Let this verse give you permission to laugh, eat well, and rest in gladness.
Psalm 90:12
So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
(WEB)
Moses asks God to teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. An anniversary counts days in a particularly tender way. Use this verse to reflect on how the couple has spent their years, and what they hope to give the years still ahead.
How to Use These Verses
Write the verses you choose on cards, one per guest, or print them on a simple program. You might also place them in a card box for the couple to draw from in later years. Choose three or four readings for a short service or toast, and keep the rest for a card or note.
Read these passages aloud slowly, pausing after each one so the words can land. Pray them together before the meal, or invite a family member to read one aloud. A reading lands best when it is connected to a real memory, so let the reading lead into a story rather than standing alone.
A Short Prayer for an Anniversary Celebration
Lord, thank You for the years You have given us together. We see Your faithfulness in the ordinary mornings, in the hard seasons we survived, and in the love we have been able to share. Help us to keep honoring the promises we made, and to love one another with patience and kindness. Be the center of this home and of every year still ahead. Thank You for walking with us this far. Amen.
